arts & humanities

In addition to its contributions to social scientific research in information studies, the interdisciplinary iSquare project has generated art exhibitions and compelling stories of information.

Exhibitions

The exhibit "iSquares Clothesline" (at left and right) was created and displayed at the Information School, University of Sheffield, England while Jenna Hartel was a visiting professor during October, 2014. The iSquares were collected from three classes in the Information School's masters degree program. Thanks to Dr. Andrew Cox and Melanie Benson for assistance with the project.

Stories

Perhaps information science can take inspiration from the humanities and employ stories as a means to understanding. The iSquares can help us to create a visual narrative of our central concept. Written conceptions of information do not lend themselves to storytelling in the same evocative and illustrative way. Innumerable narratives can be created from the ﻿Corpus﻿ of iSquares on this website and one example is below, beginning at the top left and reading to the right:

The story begins with information as either chaos or energy beyond our unaided vision. -->

Socially constructed information leads to widespread knowledge. -->

Then, reduced human beings appear as brains to make sense of things. -->

Information and knowledge are stored and shared in information technologies and systems. -->

Next, a whole person becomes capable of mindfulness and thought, which are at the heart of information. -->

At an even larger scale, information is the source of culture and it is central to life on earth. -->

Subsequently, a dyad is the first step towards communication and a social experience of information. -->

Finally, in all its mystery and great volume, information is endless.

It follows that twosomes become collectives and socially construct information. -->